1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to log debarking apparatus and more particularly to an improved mechanical log debarking apparatus particularly well adapted for use in stationary installations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modern commercial lumbering operations conventionally remove the bark from logs before the logs are processed as by sawing into lumber or being chipped for pulping. Numerous debarking devices have been developed, including hydraulic apparatus which remove the bark by use of high pressure water jets and mechanical devices which employ a driven tool head to remove the bark by a beating or scraping action. The mechanical debarking devices currently in use generally employ means for supporting and rotating a log about its longitudinal axis with a driven tool head engaging the log as it rotates to remove the bark. Either the log or the tool head is moved longitudinally of the log as the log rotates so that the tool head progressively removes the bark around a spiral path which completely traverses the outer surface of the log.
The commercially available log debarking devices are generally effective in removing the bark and can be operated at substantial savings over the manual debarking methods previously widely used. However, known devices have not been entirely satisfactory for various reasons. For example, debarking devices which progressively move a log past a debarking head are very large and expensive and require excessive space due to the fact that the apparatus must be more than twice the length of the longest log to be processed through the apparatus. In devices where the logs are rotated in position and the tool head is moved progressively along the length of the logs, it has generally been the practice to mount the tool head on a track arrangement extending outboard of the log support. In such an arrangement, the track extends longitudinally beyond the log support a distance sufficient to permit the tool head to be moved out of the way of a log being loaded onto or unloaded from the log support. However, this arrangement has generally resulted in a substantial increase in apparatus width over that of the stationary tool head type of apparatus, and difficulty has been encountered in removing a debarked log from the apparatus over the tool head carriage track. It is, accordingly, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved log debarking apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved heavy-duty, compact, mechanical type log debarking apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a log debarking apparatus in which the debarking tool head is moved along a track extending closely adjacent one side of the apparatus, and in which the track does not materially interfere with the removal of logs from the apparatus.